


His Light in the Dark

by PurrfectCatastrophe



Category: Free!, Iwatobi Swim Club - Fandom
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, I couldn't help myself, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-15
Updated: 2014-01-15
Packaged: 2018-01-08 19:58:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1136749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurrfectCatastrophe/pseuds/PurrfectCatastrophe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haruka has a nightmare and Rei is there to comfort him and assure him everything is alright.</p>
            </blockquote>





	His Light in the Dark

It was dark. Not that Haruka cared all that much the dark never bothered him. He walked forward carefully and slowly even though the darkness didn’t bother him he wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t going to run blindly in an unfamiliar place. He wasn’t sure how long he had been walking or even where he was going. Annoyance started to bubble up inside him until a light illuminated an all too familiar face. Caring green eyes and a friendly smiled calmed the fear Haruka didn’t realize was taking over.

“Makoto!” Haruka called out as he approached his best friend. Haruka reached out to the taller boy only for him to frown and take a step back. Haruka paused confused by the action and lowered his arms. Makoto’s frown deepened as he stared at Haruka.

“Makoto what’s wrong?” Haruka asked feeling extremely uneasy now.

“You are.” Makoto replied sullenly. Haru felt his heart sink at the answer. He hadn’t been expecting that. Haruka didn’t even have a chance to question this before Makoto continued. “I don’t even know why I bothered with you for so long. You obviously don’t enjoy my company if you did you’d talk to me more.”

“He’s right Haru-chan!” A new voice confirmed. Haruka turned around to see Nagisa standing there with a disappointed look. “Haru-chan doesn’t even carry his phone with him! What if we really needed you? Do you even care about us?” 

“Of course he doesn’t care about us he didn’t even make more of an effort to talk to me after that race we had as kids.” Rin called out from his spot a little ways from Makoto. Haruka clutched at his shirt unsure of what to do now. This had to be some trick. His friends would never say such things. None of this was real. Except it felt all too real.

“I always wondered if he even liked to be around you guys.” Kou admitted now standing next to Nagisa. “He was always looked like he wasn’t happy to be there.” 

“Even now I still doubt if he even likes me being around him.” Rei sighed sadly. Haruka turned to face his boyfriend hurt that he’d say such a thing. Even Rei felt the same? His friends continued their onslaught telling him all that was wrong with him. 

“So quiet.”

“Moody.”

“Distant.”

“Uncaring.”

“Confusing.”

“Troublesome.” 

“No!” Haruka shouted as he fell to the ground hands gripping his hair tightly. It became harder to breathe as they continued talking all at once. “No stop! Just stop it!” Haruka pounded on his head trying to block out their words. He didn’t dare look up at their faces that probably held dissapointment. His emotions swirled inside him like the words assaulting him. The last thing he heard was “Simply not beautiful” before he was staring up at a worried purple eyes. 

Haruka took a deep breath finally able to breathe and think clearly. It was just an awful dream. Rei leaned back so he was kneeling beside his boyfriend patiently waiting for him to calm down. Haruka sat up and ran a hand through his hair unable to face Rei at the moment. He had completely forgotten his boyfriend was spending the night. The two had spent all day together and Rei decided to sleep over when Haruka refused to get up from his resting spot on Rei’s lap. Haruka flinched slightly when Rei’s hand entered his line of vision. Blinking Haruka realized he was being offered a glass of water and took it gratefully. He was out of it he hadn’t even felt Rei get up out of bed. When Haruka had downed the entire glass Rei finally spoke up.

“Are you feeling better?” Rei asked. 

“Yeah. Thanks for the water.” Haruka responded quietly.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Rei asked after a tense moment.

“…” Haruka was still in disbelief that he even had a nightmare. He bit his lip conflicted about telling what he had just dreamt. Rei reached over with a handkerchief and wiped at Haruka’s face as he waited for an answer. Confused Haruka reached up to touch his cheeks and realized they were wet with tears. Had it really been that intense?

“Do you hate me?” Haruka whispered suddenly. Rei paused shocked at the question.

“I could never hate you.” Rei answered as he put away the handkerchief giving Haruka his full attention.

“But I’m an awful boyfriend. I rarely talk and I’m constantly making you guess about things.” Haruka couldn’t help it as the words tumbled from his mouth. He repeated everything  
he has heard in his dream becoming more frantic by the second. Rei reached over sensing Haruka’s rising emotions and gently forced Haruka to look him in the eyes.

“Haruka breathe.” Rei instructed. Haruka nodded and took in a shaky breath. Rei nodded and moved to hold Haruka’s hands rubbing them. Haruka had never felt like this before in his life. He didn’t even feel like this when his parents went to live in Tokyo. Had these thoughts always been plaguing the back of his mind? Waiting for the right moment to drag him down and break him. 

“No you don’t talk a lot.” Rei said once Haruka finally calmed down. “But when you do it’s always important, besides your actions speak louder than anything else. You have a talent for art that leaves me as breathless as your swimming does. You’re observant and thoughtful of others. You are very good at cooking to, though I wish you’d expand it to things besides mackerel.” Rei gave him a grin which made Haruka smile slightly. “So no there is no way I could ever hate you. Rei kissed his hands softly knowing Haruka liked it when he did so.

Haruka nodded slowly and pulled Rei into a tight hug. He couldn't bring himself to tell Rei about the dream but just hearing those words from his boyfriend made him feel like he was floating in a pool. The darkness he had been wondering in became bearable in the light that Rei gave off. Haruka dragged them down onto the pillows murmuring “thank you’s” and”I love you’s” into Rei’s shoulder where he buried his face. Rei reached past Haruka and pulled the covers back over them. Haruka sighed contently when Rei wrapped his arms around him feeling safe and loved. He couldn’t go to sleep immediately and instead took comfort in his boyfriends’ warmth and listened to his steady heartbeat. When he finally did fall asleep the last thing he remembered were the soft kisses being pressed against his forehead.

**Author's Note:**

> I made my first post and it was HaruRei! It would have been RinRei but I had this idea in the middle of the night and had to write it. I had so much fun writing this despite having trouble picking what the nightmare should be about.
> 
> This is so much fun! 
> 
> The original title was Once in a While. But I suddenly changed it like a second before posting this.


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